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asoularisen wrote:They could talk about their experiences in the profession? Give educated opinions? Seems simple enough...

Well, obviously people prefer to work with attractive people. Otherwise, I'm confused by what you're asking.

I'm not asking for somebody to come out here and give me one, provably correct answer... But seeing educated opinions from various people in the field can give one an idea of how much a particular trait lowers their chances of success in a given field. Obviously, physical traits play a role in all aspects of life, but certainly there are fields where certain traits can be a bigger hindrance than in other, and I'm trying to get a feel for where law, specifically corporate, ranks in those fields, and which traits seem to most lower one's chances of success.

Thanks. I will now attempt to attribute all my failures in life to being ugly, rather than any personality shortcomings.

That was far from my motivation with this topic. I'm still an undergraduate; I wasn't making this topic in an attempt to make excuses, to not pursue law because of potential racial/physical biases, etc. I just wanted information. I don't see why people can't just give a mature answer and move on, rather than immediately getting presumptuous and throwing around "clever" one-liners...

I wouldn't say ugly. I was more concerned with the racial aspect, less so with physical appearance, but I figured it all factors in.

What do you mean: "concerned with the racial aspect"?

As in, I'm less worried that any potential "ugliness" will hinder me; I'm a pretty average looking person with average features. But I happen to be brown and wanted to get a feel for how much of a hindrance that could potentially be.

asoularisen wrote:How big of an impact can race, height, weight, etc. have in terms of finding employment and moving up the ladder (let's say in corporate law, since that's what interests me most)?

take someone like ben brofman who is probably the leading criminal defense attorney - he is very short, has a little gut and not the best face in the barrel, but he is not too chubby and takes good care of himself. looks probably matter more in law than they do in medicine because a lot of it is making a positive impact on many people (as is any office job), but i would argue there is a smaller gap in benefit between being amazingly good looking and average than there is between being average and morbidly ugly with the logic probably being if they can't commit to taking care of themselves how can they commit to a case?

I wouldn't say ugly. I was more concerned with the racial aspect, less so with physical appearance, but I figured it all factors in.

What do you mean: "concerned with the racial aspect"?

As in, I'm less worried that any potential "ugliness" will hinder me; I'm a pretty average looking person with average features. But I happen to be brown and wanted to get a feel for how much of a hindrance that could potentially be.

are you trolling? this is 2011, nobody cares what race you are. if anything being black would help you, because you could participate on any case, and some people might specifically want to have you (i.e. the ceo sued for racist hiring).

As in, I'm less worried that any potential "ugliness" will hinder me; I'm a pretty average looking person with average features. But I happen to be brown and wanted to get a feel for how much of a hindrance that could potentially be.

About the same effect race has in other aspects of your life. Some people may say some ignorant things, but I doubt anything overtly offensive will happen. It's not something you should even be thinking about like that, to be honest.

It's not scientific but you could always go to a firm you're interested in, and take a look at the attorney bios which often include photos. Take note of who is an associate and who is a partner, and come to your own conclusions based on what you see because you're not going to get anything more specific than that.

FWIW, the firm I am summering at has a wide range when it comes to height, weight, and subjective attractiveness. So, here, it doesn't seem to matter too much at all. Outside of professional competence, likeability seems to be the most important trait a person can have.

Race/ethnicity is a completely different beast. Many firms actively recruit qualified candidates from underrepresented backgrounds (AA being one of them). The more important question is the partner-associate ratio. Take a look at the NALP numbers for firms you're interested in and they'll tell you (part of) the story for a firm or region.